Can I refuse to pay a claims company their fee??

roonaldo

Laney77 wrote: »

CAB did tell me not to pay but I do not want this to affect my excellent credit score.

Very poor advice of CAB. Although you may well have a point, your contract with the CMC was for them to get you a payout which they were successful in doing.

In not paying you will have to defend this in court, unfortunately making a few phone calls and chasing them up here and then wont wash. You are going to have to prove how they breached the contract which it seems there is no evidence they did. Poor customer service is not a get out.

Nasqueron

You'll end up in court and get a CCJ against you if you don't pay. For the tiny amount of work a claims company does they will demand their piece of flesh and will fight tooth and nail to get it. If you don't pay something (good luck with your negotiation beyond the 5% discount - wonder if that's before or after they add the VAT on top) but if you want to borrow money, get a mobile contract, a credit card or a mortgage in the next 6 years you will have to pay up else they will trash your credit rating - they're useless bullies but they hold a contract you signed meaning you're stuck with them.

Laney77

Thank you so much - This is very helpful indeed.
I can't think of anything less appealing than going to court & losing the sum awarded.
Can't say anything good about them but now it just needs putting to bed!!

addedvaluebob

You are not going to win as you have a signed contract. Whether you like the terms now is almost irrelevant, however if they have offered a 5% reduction try and push the fee down further so you end up paying less. You probably still won't like the final answer but you need to play poker at this point. They probably don't want to waste time going to court (they won't get paid for their time but can claim costs and legals and the case could take months to be resolved. Faced with a possibility (depends on the strength of your arguments) of losing they will probably be more willing to chat. No guarantees of course but worth a try.

Don't worry about the posts from moneyineptitude unfortunately they are very unfriendly and believe it is the only opinion on here.

If you do decide to go to court, pay it first and argue the merits later, that will stop you damaging your credit etc

Thrugelmir

Laney77 wrote: »

when I have literally spent hours upon hours chasing them to ensure that they are doing what they should be.

Was it actually necessary for you to do so? i.e. spend hours.

Laney77

roonaldo wrote: »

Very poor advice of CAB. Although you may well have a point, your contract with the CMC was for them to get you a payout which they were successful in doing.

In not paying you will have to defend this in court, unfortunately making a few phone calls and chasing them up here and then wont wash. You are going to have to prove how they breached the contract which it seems there is no evidence they did. Poor customer service is not a get out.

Thank you for your feedback - This is much appreciated.
I definately don't want to give myself sleepless nights so think I will go back to them today.

Laney77

addedvaluebob wrote: »

You are not going to win as you have a signed contract. Whether you like the terms now is almost irrelevant, however if they have offered a 5% reduction try and push the fee down further so you end up paying less. You probably still won't like the final answer but you need to play poker at this point. They probably don't want to waste time going to court (they won't get paid for their time but can claim costs and legals and the case could take months to be resolved. Faced with a possibility (depends on the strength of your arguments) of losing they will probably be more willing to chat. No guarantees of course but worth a try.

Don't worry about the posts from moneyineptitude unfortunately they are very unfriendly and believe it is the only opinion on here.

If you do decide to go to court, pay it first and argue the merits later, that will stop you damaging your credit etc

Thank you so much for your comments, They really are appreciated.
Having spoken to family last night, they are of the same opinion I may however ask them to reduce the fee further today but not sure how far that will get me.
I have definately learnt a valuable lesson in doing things this way.

As for moneyineptitude - People like that do not worry me at all, I feel sorry for them truth be told. Anyone can be big & brave behind a computer screen in the comfort of their own home. I have taken their comments very tongue in cheek ;-))

societys_child

Without wishing to be accused of being angry and aggressive, everyone has given you the same advice.
The only way these claims companys make money is by collecting their fee, and they're very good at that, it's their sole reason for existing, no matter how little work they've done.

Insider101

roonaldo wrote: »

Very poor advice of CAB. Although you may well have a point, your contract with the CMC was for them to get you a payout which they were successful in doing.

In not paying you will have to defend this in court, unfortunately making a few phone calls and chasing them up here and then wont wash. You are going to have to prove how they breached the contract which it seems there is no evidence they did. Poor customer service is not a get out.

This is about the size of it unfortunately.

I would take anything the CAB say with a big pinch of salt. They are mostly staffed by volunteers who mean well but do not have any formal training either in law or other matters they are giving advice on.

A couple of years ago CMCs were meant to be being taken into the jurisdiction of the legal ombudsman, which would give an outlet to customers wanting to vent frustration against them. However, it seems to have gone quiet on that front. The result is they operate in an unregulated (MOJ are a joke) wild west where they are not obliged to deal with customer grievances effectively. But like Roonaldo said they will go to court producing your signed contract. And if you want to dispute it then you need a lawful basis to do so and advocacy from someone more clued up than Citizens Advice.

ladeeda

Much as I dislike seeing the claims companies being paid, I'm afraid you have no option but to pay them if you want to keep your clean credit rating. Pay it and then continue the dispute if you feel you have grounds. I presume that the claim money is cash you would not have had if the claims company had not contacted you, so you are losing money that you wouldn't of otherwise had anyway?